NORTH MIAMI, FL (WPLG/CNN) - A van filled with schoolchildren crashed through the front of a new restaurant in North Miami. None of the children were injured.
The accident was caught on the restaurant's surveillance cameras Wednesday.
"It was a big old noise, like an explosion," said Fitzgerald Gabriel, the owner of G's BBQ and Pizza.
Gabriel said that as soon as he heard the crash, he started running toward the van, where nearly a dozen students from St. James Catholic School were trapped inside.
"I was trying to pull those kids out," Gabriel said.
Surveillance video from outside the restaurant shows how several other witnesses rushed in, answering the call for help.
"We started banging, 'Open the door! Open the door!' But some of the kids were piled on top of each other," said Oscar Pelegrín, who also rushed to the scene.
One by one, the children were freed from the wreckage, shaken but uninjured.
The driver of the van walked away without a scratch.
Police said that another driver made an illegal left turn, clipping the van, and forcing the van driver to lose control and crash into the restaurant.
Investigators said the driver who hit the van got a citation.
Gabriel, meanwhile, is now in jeopardy of losing everything he's worked for.
"I just opened about two weeks ago," Gabriel said.
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